In his excellent and interesting “A Man from Maine,” Edward W. Bok devotes a chapter to the story of the purchase and development of The Saturday Evening Post by Cyrus H. K. Curtis. This chapter is styled “The Story of the 'Singed Cat.'”
Mr. Curtis was born in Portland, Maine, June 18, 1850. He went to Philadelphia in 1876, and seven years later started The Ladies’ Home Journal.
Mr. Curtis first developed the Ladies Home Journal and then turned his energy and wonderful organization to a magazine for men.
Somehow he fixed his mind upon The Saturday Evening Post as the medium through which he was to realize his pet dream. Mr. Bok is authority for the statement that Mr. Curtis himself does not remember how he came to fix up this old paper, but says that the publication had always attracted him as he met it each week in his exchanges as a legacy left to Philadelphia by Benjamin Franklin, who, in 1728, founded the paper under the title of The Pennsylvania Gazette.
Franklin edited and published this paper for a number of years, and then sold it to his grandson. Meanwhile six other papers of all sorts had been born in Philadelphia, all having as part of their title the word Gazette. So in 1821, to avoid a constant confusion of names, the name was changed to The Saturday Evening Post, August 4, 1821.
The spirit of enterprise of that early day must have been put into the venture, for in 1839, it had a circulation of thirty-five thousand copies, the largest circulation of that day of any weekly in the United States. The most famous statesmen and writers of the time were among its contributors, and it ranked as the most important publication of the time.
The Saturday Evening Post, like other old newspapers, frequently passed into various ownerships, nearly all of whom were Philadelphians, but a resident of Brooklyn, N. Y., owned it for a time, although the place of publication remained at Philadelphia, and finally it passed into the possession of Albert Smyth, of Philadelphia, whose publication it was when Mr. Curtis went to Philadelphia in 1876, to begin the career which has made him the most successful and most beloved of all publishers in all the world.
During the time that Philadelphia was in possession of the British, under Lord Howe, the publication was suspended, but after the last British “Tommy” marched away, the paper was revived and from that time to this day it has never missed an issue. With this record of over a century Mr. Smyth was justly proud and its ownership was a matter of pride, as well as the distinguished record of long service. He was fond of its history and tradition, and as he and Mr. Curtis were friends, it is not improbable that the latter’s interest in this old paper was fostered during these chats, and he began a little search on his own account for the intimate history of the paper, and before long, Mr. Curtis knew quite as much about it as did its proud owner.
Yet the paper was losing out, the circulation was steadily and surely diminishing, no one seemed to care. The editorship was entrusted to a reporter of the Philadelphia Times, who devoted his odd moments upon The Saturday Evening Post, at the elegant salary of ten dollars a week, and the articles published were just what a ten dollar editor would be expected to use.
A man with the vision and patriotism of Mr. Curtis could not help feeling regret that a paper with such traditions was allowed to run down, and he began to bargain with Mr. Smyth.
True it was only a name, but it had a long history and valuable heritage. Best of all, Benjamin Franklin had founded it, and that was an asset upon which Mr. Curtis could build.
Mr. Smyth went to Chicago, where he was interested in a gas project, and left The Saturday Evening Post in charge of a friend named Brady, but in 1897 Smyth died, leaving a sister as his only heir. She could not or would not finance the publication, and Brady turned to Mr. Curtis for the money to get out that week’s issue.
To Brady’s surprise Mr. Curtis told him that the name of the paper was not protected with a copyright, and that if the sister did not put up the money and an issue was missed anyone could take up the name.
Brady’s lawyer confirmed the statement. Mr. Curtis said he would not do anything like that, but told Brady he had nothing to sell. “However, I'll give you one thousand dollars for the paper, type and all.”
Mr. Curtis became the owner of the paper, and sent a young man in his establishment with a wagon to the printing office to bring away the battered type, and as soon as it arrived, that week’s issue was printed, so as to save the right to the title by continuous publication.
At this time the subscription list was about two thousand and soon as Mr. Curtis improved the paper these few subscribers cancelled their subscriptions, when it was learned that the new owner had in fact purchased only the title and name of Benjamin Franklin.
The outlook for the future for this new venture was so gloomy that men in his employ called it “the singed cat.”
Mr. Curtis selected George Horace Lorimer, of Boston, as the editor and he got behind him, even in the face of the most discouraging criticism, but neither Mr. Curtis nor Mr. Lorimer ever for a single moment doubted that the project would make good. A half million dollars were spent upon advertising the periodical, and at one time the loss totalled nearly a million dollars, but during all this period there was being developed just the kind of a paper that Mr. Curtis wanted The Saturday Evening Post to be.
Then the circulation grew and when it reached five hundred thousand copies the advertisers began to use its pages, and Mr. Curtis had now put into the paper a million and a quarter dollars. Then the paper appeared with a “circulation of one million copies” printed on the cover, and the fight was won.
The circulation is now in excess of two million, and is, without a doubt, the greatest publication in the history of journalism.
The Curtis Publishing Company publish The Ladies Home Journal, The Saturday Evening Post, The Country Gentleman, The Public Ledger and The Evening Public Ledger and the output of this plant is six hundred and fifty thousand complete magazines, each working day, and all this in addition to seventy-three million newspapers each year.
More than one hundred railroad cars each month are required to circulate the magazines, as the Ladies Home Journal goes to one out of every ten women in the United States and The Saturday Evening Post goes into more than one out of every ten homes in this country. Such is the story of not only Pennsylvania’s oldest and best magazine, but the largest and most successful in the world.
William Penn was financially involved when stricken and during the six years he suffered until relieved by death, July 30, 1718, did not place his affairs in more favorable condition.
The Province of Pennsylvania was encumbered by Proprietary’s mortgage given in 1708, and by his contract with the Crown for the sale of the government. His will, which was drawn in 1712, was in contemplation of this contract.
To his only surviving son, William, by his first marriage, he bequeathed all his estates in England and Ireland, which, producing fifteen hundred pounds sterling per annum, were estimated of greater value than his American possessions.
By his first wife, Gulielma Maria Springett, he had issue of three sons, William, Springett and William, and four daughters, Gulielma, Margaret, Gulielma and Letitia. From his American possession he made provision for the payment of his debts, and for his widow, Hannah Callowhill and four sons, John, Thomas, Richard and Dennis. To his wife, Hannah, whom he made the sole executrix of his estate, he gave for the equal benefit of herself and her children, all his personal estate in Pennsylvania and elsewhere, after paying all debts, and allottingallotting ten thousand acres of land in the Province to his daughter Letitia, by his first marriage, and each of the three children of his son William, and to convey the remainder at the discretion of his widow, to her children, subject to an annuity to herself of £300 sterling per annum.
Doubts having arisen as to the force of the provisions of this will, it was finally determined to institute a suit in chancery for its determination. Before a decision was reached in March, 1720, William Penn, Jr., died, and while it was still pending, his son, Springett, died.
During the more than nine years of litigation, Hannah Penn, as executrix of the will, assumed the Proprietary power, issued instructions to her Lieutenant-Governor, heard complaints and settled differences with the skill and assurance of a veteran diplomat. In 1727 a decision was reached that, upon the death of William Penn, Jr., and his son Springett, the proprietary rights in Pennsylvania descended to the three surviving sons, John, Thomas and Richard, issue by the second marriage.
The Province now entered upon a period of great prosperity. The almost unbounded confidence of the Province in Governor Keith enabled him, in 1720, to establish two measures hitherto repugnant to the Assembly, and equity court, dependent on the Governor’s will, of which he was chancellor, and a militia organized by like authority.
The great influx of foreigners alarmed the Assembly, who feared their settlement on the frontier. Attempts to naturalize them were treated with coldness. Even the Governor, whose industry and utility were proverbial, could not remove the jealousy.
Many Palatines, long resident in the Province, applied for naturalization in 1721, but not until 1724 was leave granted to bring in a bill, and then conditioned upon the proviso that they should individually obtain from the justice of the peace a certificate of the value of their property, and nature of their religious faith. A bill to that effect reached the Governor the following year, but he returned it on the ground that in a country where English liberty and law prevailed, a scrutiny into the private conversation and faith of the citizens, and particularly into their estates, was unjust and dangerous in precedent. The House yielded, but it was not for some time that the privilege of subjects were granted to the Palatines.
Following the death of Springett Penn and Mrs. Hannah Penn, the Assembly conceived that the authority of Governor Patrick Gordon was determined, and accordingly refused to act upon a message which he had sent them, and adjourned themselves to the last day of their term.
A new commission, signed by John, Thomas and Richard Penn, in whom the government was now vested, was received by Governor Gordon in October. When the King gave his approbation to this new commission he reserved as the right of the Crown, the government of the Lower Counties on the Delaware.
Patrick Gordon who served as Deputy Governor from July 26, 1726, to his death had been a soldier in the regular army, serving from his youth to near the close of Queen Anne’s reign, with a high reputation. He was appointed successor of Governor Keith by the family, and formally proposed to the Crown by Springett Penn, their heir-at-law.
He arrived in the Province with his family in the summer of 1726, and met the Assembly during the first week of August. In his first address he alluded to the fact of his having been a soldier, that he consequently knew nothing of the crooked ways of professed politicians and must rely upon a blunt, straightforward course in his communications with them in his administration of the government. His whole public career seems to have been characterized by this same frankness and integrity.
Governor Gordon took prompt measures to apprehend and punish worthless drunken Indians who committed outrages. He concluded several very important treaties with the Six Nations, and attended these in person. He published “Two Indians Treaties at Conestogoe,” in 1728.
Governor Gordon died August 5, 1736. His administration was in all respects a happy one. The unanimity of the Assembly, the Council and the Governor, gave an uninterrupted course to the prosperity of the Province. The wisdom which guided her counsels was strongly portrayed in her internal peace, increased population, improved morals and thriving commerce. The death of Governor Gordon was equally lamented by the Proprietaries and the people.
Upon the death of Governor Gordon, the administration of the government again devolved on the Council, of which James Logan was president. He so governed until August, 1738, when Sir George Thomas, a wealthy planter, of the island of Antigua, was appointed by the Proprietaries. Governor Thomas immediately devoted his energies toward the settlement of the boundary dispute, by which it was mutually agreed, that matters should rest along the border, until final settlement of the boundary lines.
The famous “Indian Walk” was performed by Edward Marshall, and others on September 19, 1737. This walk, according to Charles Thomson, was the cause of jealousies and heart burnings among the Indians, which eventually broke out in loud complaints of injustice and atrocious acts of savage vengeance. The very first murder committed by them after this deception was on the very land from which they believed themselves cheated.
In 1763 the savages, angered by the losses of the French and by finding the English settlers pressing upon them, organized what has been called a conspiracy under Pontiac. It nearly succeeded and many English forts were captured.
In Pennsylvania there were many murders and burnings all around Forts Pitt, Le Boeuf, Presque Isle and Ligonier; many were killed at Bedford and Carlisle, and even Fort Augusta, on the Susquehanna at Sunbury, was seriously threatened.
Colonel Henry Bouquet, an energetic and capable officer, took a battalion of the Royal American Regiment and two companies of Highlanders and English and started from Philadelphia for Fort Pitt.
Upon his arrival he found Carlisle crowded with fugitives, and learned that Presque Isle, Le Boeuf and Venango, now English forts, had fallen. Homes were burning all through the neighboring valleys.
With five hundred men Bouquet pushed over the mountain to Bedford and Fort Ligonier, which he relieved from a siege just in time. At Bedford thirty hunters with rifles joined him. He heard from Fort Pitt that the commander and nine others had been wounded.
Bouquet resolved to leave behind the oxen and wagons, which formed the most cumbersome part of the convoy. Thus relieved, the army resumed its march August 4, taking with them 350 pack horses and a few cattle, and at nightfall encamped at no great distance from Ligonier.
Within less than a day’s march lay the dangerous defiles of Turtle Creek. Fearing that the enemy would lay in ambuscade at this place, Bouquet determined to march on the following day as far as a small stream called Bushy Run, to rest there until night and then, by a forced march, to cross Turtle Creek under cover of the darkness.
On the morning of August 5, the tents were struck at an early hour, and the troops began their march through a rough country, everywhere covered with a tall, dense forest.
By noon they had advanced to within less than a mile of Bushy Run. Suddenly the report of rifles from the front sent a thrill along the ranks. The firing became terrific, while the shouts and whoops showed that the advance guard was hotly engaged. The two foremost companies were sent to support it, but far from abating, the fire grew so furious that it revealed the presence of an enemy at once numerous and resolute.
The convoy was halted, the troops formed into line, and a general charge ordered. Bearing down through the forest with fixed bayonets, they drove the yelping savages before them, and swept the ground clear.
At this very moment of success, a fresh burst of whoops and firing was heard from either flank, while noise from the rear showed that the convoy was attacked. The column fell back for its support, drove off the assailants, and formed in a circle around the terrified horses. No man lost his composure, but each displayed implicit confidence in their commander.
Now ensued a combat most discouraging. Again and again, now one side and now on the other, a crowd of Indians rushed up, pouring in a heavy fire, in their effort to break into the circle. A well directed volley met them, followed by a charge of the bayonet. The Indians fled behind trees, few of them were hurt, while the English suffered severely.
Thus the fight went on without intermission for seven hours, until approaching night, when the Indian fire slackened, and the exhausted soldiers found time to rest.
It was impossible to change their ground in the enemy’s presence, and the troops were obliged to encamp where the combat had taken place, though not a drop of water was to be found there.
Bouquet, doubtful of surviving the battle of the morrow, wrote to Sir Jeffrey Amherst, in a few, clear, concise words, an account of the day’s events.
The condition of the troops was deplorable. About sixty soldiers, besides several officers, had been killed or disabled. A space in the center of the camp was prepared for the care of the wounded, and surrounded by a wall built of bags of flour. Here they lay upon the ground, enduring agonies of thirst, as well as of pain.
The situation of those who hitherto escaped was not an enviable one. In event of defeat, a fate inexpressibly horrible waited them, while even victory did not assure their safety, since so many wounded comrades made it difficult to transport them. On the other side the enemy were exulting in the fullest confidence of success.
With the earliest dawn of day there broke out a general burst of those horrid yells which form the prelude of an Indian battle. Instantly from every side the fire poured in with deadly aim.
At each furious rush the savages were repulsed. The English, maddened more by the torments of thirst than the fire of the enemy, fought furiously. But the enemy saw their distress and pressed them closer and more desperately.
The center of the camp was all confusion. The horses broke away a dozen at a time and stampeded through the wounded troops. At ten o’clock the circle was yet unbroken, but there had been many killed. If the day was to be saved, the effort must be made at once and Bouquet was equal to the emergency.
In the midst of the confusion he conceived a masterly stratagem. Could the Indians be brought together in a body and made to stand their ground, there could be little doubt of the result. Bouquet instructed the men who were in the most exposed place to give way. The Indians mistook this movement for a retreat. Confident that their victory was sure, they leaped up on all sides and rushed headlong towards the spot.
Here they found themselves between two deadly fires and with the reserve troops blocking their retreat they were utterly routed. The Highlanders, with yells as wild as their own, fell on them with bayonet. The shock was irresistible and they fled before the charging ranks, not a living Indian remained near the spot. Among the dead were found several prominent chiefs.
The battle of Bushy Run was the best contested battle ever fought between white men and Indians. It was the most serious defeat ever inflicted upon the savages down to that time.
With the loss of eight officers and 115 men, Bouquet reached Fort Pitt August 10. It was a joyous moment both to the troops and the garrison, which had been surrounded and hotly pressed by the Indians since July 28.
The next year Bouquet led an expedition beyond the Ohio, but the Indians sued for peace and he compelled them to bring all their captives to Fort Pitt, where their friends could identify them.
The fact that the great Delaware King Tedyuskung was not present at the important council at Lancaster in April, 1757, caused much more concern in the Provincial Government than is usually the case when one person of importance fails to attend. The Delaware Indians were still chafing under the rebuke they received at the hands of CanassetogaCanassetoga, the great Onondaga Chief Sachem, and the Six Nations, who ordered them from the lands at the Forks of the Delaware River to the Wyoming and Shamokin Valleys.
Soon as the Lancaster council was concluded, messengers were dispatched to Tedyuskung and to the Seneca and Shawnee, inviting them to hold a treaty with the English.
On June 16, Sir Wm. Johnson held a general conference with the Onondaga, Cayuga and Seneca, of the Six Nations, at his estate “Fort Johnson,” in which he strongly urged these tribes to come to the support of the English in their warfare against the French. He severely censured Tedyuskung and the Seneca for their conduct.
The Indian messengers, Nathanial and Zacharias, failed to find Tedyuskung at Wyoming, and journeyed to the Seneca villages in New York where they found the King and delivered the Governor’s message. Tedyuskung and the messengers immediately set out for Pennsylvania, and on their way met Joe Peepy, Shikellamy’s son, and Tapescawen, the two messengers sent out by the Lancaster Council in quest of Tedyuskung. Nathanial and Zacharias hastened on to advise the Governor that Tedyuskung and his followers would set out from Tioga for Easton the middle of June.
Tedyuskung and his retinue arrived at Fort Allen July 3, 200 strong and waited there for the arrival of 100 Seneca. On July 8, 155 men, women and children followed Tedyuskung out of Fort Allen toward Easton, and a few days later 117 Seneca and other Six Nations’ Indians arrived at Easton, via Wyoming; among the Seneca delegation were old King Nutimus and “French Margaret.”
Governor Denny, accompanied by members of the Council, Board of Indian Commissioners and a large number of citizens, including many Quakers, arrived at Easton, July 20, and the next day the conference with the Indians was formally begun. Colonel Conrad Weiser and Colonel George Croghan were in attendance as interpreters and agents; there were more than 300 Indians representing ten nations, and Tedyuskung claimed authority over them all.
Tedyuskung demanded a clerk and refused to participate until furnished one, when a long debate ensued, but the old king won his point and chose Charles Thomson. Thomson exercised great influence over Tedyuskung and was his counsel as well as clerk.
The conference proceeded in peace. Tedyuskung declared it was time to declare mutual friendship and gave the Governor a belt of wampum. The Governor rejoiced in this expression of alliance and gave the Delaware a fine belt of wampum. This was a large belt with the figures of three men worked in the wampum, representing King George, taking hold of the King of the Five Nations with one hand, and Tedyuskung with the other, and marked “G. R., 5 N and D. K.,” for King George, Five Nations and Delaware King.
On Saturday, August 6, Paxinosa, with Abraham, the Mohegan Chief, arrived at Easton, with about sixty of their people. The Governor personally welcomed the newcomers to the council.
The most important matter broached by Tedyuskung touched on the future home of the Delaware. He then asked that persons be sent to instruct them to build permanent houses of a better class, and that other persons be sent “to instruct us in Christian religion, and instruct our children in reading and writing.”
Tedyuskung then expressed a desire that the Governor would send people to Wyoming during the coming fall or nearly next Spring, that a little fort might be built. The Indians would then move down from Tioga, about the beginning of May.
The conference came to an end on Sunday, August 7. The Governor and his attendants left for Bethlehem, enroute to Philadelphia. The following day many Indians were escorted by Conrad Weiser and a detachment of Provincials under Captain Jacob Arndt, towards Bethlehem.
The “Memorials of the Moravian Church” says, “Some of these unwelcome visitors halted for a few days and some proceeded as far as Fort Allen and then returned, undecided as to where to go and what to do. During the month full 200 were counted—men, women and children—among them lawless crowds who annoyed the Brethren by depredations, molested the Indians at Manakasy, and wrangled with each other over their cup at “The Crown.”
Tedyuskung, Abraham and Paxinosa set out from Fort Allen for Tioga, August 17, the former with a new saddle and bridle, and a supply of snuff, gingerbread, soap and other luxuries—in addition to the gifts he had received at the treaty.
When near Tunkhannock, this company was met by three Indian messengers, with a Peace Belt and four-fold string of wampum, for Tedyuskung from the two principal chiefs in the Ohio region. The King gave the Peace Belt he had received at Easton into the hands of one of his sons and messengers, directing them to carry it with a message which he dictated to the Ohio chiefs. Then he left his companions and started back to Bethlehem, where he arrived August 25. Five days later he arrived in Philadelphia and delivered the message from the Ohio Indians to the Governor and Council.
Tedyuskung urged the prompt assistance of the government in helping them locate at Wyoming, and a week later the Governor and Council decided to send proper persons to build a fort and houses for the Delaware. After much discussion it was decided to send John Hughes, one of the Indian Commissioners, Edward Shippen, prothonotary of the Lancaster County courts, and James Galbraith, also of Lancaster, and a prominent citizen to undertake the journey to Wyoming. On October 5, 1757, they set out and satisfactorily fulfilled the mission on which they were sent.
During the first several years of the Revolution no section of Pennsylvania suffered more from the incursions of the hostile Indians than along both branches of the Susquehanna River, where nearly every man capable of bearing arms responded to the call and left his home and fireside in the care of aged men or young men of his family.
The Indians had taken a heavy toll along the West Branch, so small numbers of local militia and a few provincials garrisoned the several stockades erected as places of refuge for the inhabitants, when the Indians were reported by the scouts to be approaching.
August 8, 1778, a party of Indians fell upon a number of reapers and cruelly murdered young James Brady. The circumstances of the tragic affair, and the prominence of the victim and his illustrious family make the story one of value.
Colonel Thomas Hartley had been sent by General Washington to guard the West Branch Valley, and after arriving at Fort Augusta with his command, it was determined he should proceed to Muncy, erect a stockade, and from that place distribute his soldiers to points where they were most needed.
On the fatal day a corporal and three militiamen were ordered to go to Loyalsock and protect fourteen reapers and cradlers who were assisting Peter Smith, the unfortunate man who lost his wife and four children in the massacre, at what is now Williamsport, June 10. Smith’s farm was on Bull Run, nearly three miles east of Williamsport, and on the north side of the river.
It was the custom in those days of unusual peril, when no commissioned officer was present, for the company to select a leader, who was called “Captain,” and to obey him accordingly. Young James Brady, on account of his shrewdness, dash and well known bravery, was selected to take command of the party.
“Captain” Brady stationed a few sentinels and the rest proceeded to the work at hand on Friday, August 7. At sundown four of the party left and returned to Fort Muncy. The balance of the detail commenced work early the next day; the morning was foggy.
Not an hour had passed before the workers were surprised by the stealthy approach of a large band of Indians, who were able to draw near under the cover of the fog before being discovered.
The sentinels discharged their rifles at the savages and ran towards the reapers. A panic ensued and they all fled with the exception of young Brady, who ran for his rifle, closely pursued by three Indians. When almost within reach of his gun, an Indian shot at Brady, who was probably saved by his timely fall over a sheaf of wheat. When he grasped for his rifle he was shot in the arm, but succeeded in killing the Indian who fired at him.
Brady grabbed a second rifle and as quickly dispatched another Indian, but the savages now closed in on him, and he fought bravely until a warrior struck him with his tomahawk and another pierced him with a spear, which felled him to the ground. Brady had no sooner fallen than his scalp was torn from his head, and a young Indian was called upon to strike him with his tomahawk. The Indians then fled in great haste.
Brady recovered consciousness, and succeeded by walking and creeping, in reaching the cabin of an old man, named Jerome Vanness, near the bank of the river, who had been employed to cook for Brady and his companions while on this tour of duty.
Vanness heard the firing and had concealed himself, but on seeing Brady approach, rushed to his assistance. Brady urged the aged man to fly for his own safety, but he refused to leave his “captain,” and dressed his terrible wounds as best he could.
Brady requested to be assisted down to the river, where he drank much water, and lay until Vanness went back for his gun.
When the terrified reapers and militiamen reached Fort Muncy, Captain Andrew Walker hurried a detail to Smith’s farm. On approaching the spot where the gallant Brady lay weltering in his blood, he heard the relief party, and supposing them to be Indians, immediately jumped to his feet, cocked his rifle, and prepared to defend himself.
When Brady found the party to be friends, he requested to be taken to his mother, who was visiting among relatives at Sunbury.
He was tenderly cared for, placed in a canoe, and taken rapidly down the river. During the trip of nearly thirty miles he became delirious.
When the party arrived at Sunbury, although it was nearly midnight, his mother met the canoe at the landing and assisted to convey her wounded son to the house.
Brady presented a frightful appearance and the grief of his mother was pitiable. He lived five days, dying in the arms of his devoted mother, August 13, 1778.
On the day of his death his reason returned and he related with much detail the bloody scene through which he had passed.
Some writers have stated that Chief Bald Eagle scalped him, and that his brother, Captain Samuel Brady, afterwards avenged his death by shooting Bald Eagle through the heart.
The unfortunate young hero was buried near Fort Augusta. He was mourned by all who knew him.
James Brady was the second son of Captain John and Mary Brady, and a younger brother of Captain Samuel Brady, the famous scout and Indian killer. He was born in 1758, while his parents lived at Shippensburg, Cumberland County, and was in his twenty-first year at the time of his tragic death.
Many anecdotes of the Brady family have been handed down, and one relating to James is interesting. The men of that time wore their hair long, plaited and cued behind the head. James had a remarkably fine head of fiery red hair. A neighbor remarked that she feared the Indians would get this red scalp. James replied: “If they do, it will make them a bright light of a dark night.” In less than a week the noble youth fell beneath the cruel tomahawk and the savages had his red scalp.
His father, Captain John Brady, was murdered near Muncy by the Indians, April 11, 1779, while home on a leave of absence from the Continental Army.
Among the early patriots of the Revolution was Colonel John Bull, and he was quite as much a distinguished citizen and statesman. John Bull was born in 1730, in Providence Township, now Montgomery County. He was appointed captain in the Provincial service, May 12, 1758, and the following month was in command of the garrison at Fort Allen.
In October the same year he accompanied General John Forbes’ expedition for the reduction of Fort Duquesne, and rendered important service in the negotiations with the Indians. The instructions to Captain Bull were dated Easton, October 21, 1758, and are most specific. He and William Hayes had volunteeredvolunteered to carry important messages to the Indians on the Ohio.
Pesquetomen and Thomas Hickman, two Delaware Indians from the Ohio, accompanied the provincial messengers, who set out in October, going by way of Reading and Fort Henry to Fort Augusta, where they were equipped and supplied with such articles as they needed. They carried belts of wampum and even the outlines of the speeches they were to make to the western Indians when in council. This mission was performed to the entire satisfaction of the Provincial Government and John Bull became at once a trusted official on important occasions.
In 1771 Captain Bull owned the Norris plantation and mill, and was residing there at the opening of the Revolution. This is on the present site of Norristown. He was a delegate to the Provincial Conferences of January 23, 1775, and of June 18, 1775, and a member of the Provincial Convention of July 15, 1776.
The First Pennsylvania Battalion was raised in pursuance of a resolution of Congress, October 12, 1775. The field officers were elected by Congress, November 25, and John Bull was commissioned a colonel.
On January 20, 1776, the Colonel resigned in a communication to Congress setting forth that he was ill-treated by many of the officers and that nearly one-half of them threatened to resign if he continued in command. He also stated that this circumstance would not alter his conduct or abate his zeal, and whenever called upon again to serve his country, he would, with the greatest pleasure, obey the summons. Colonel Bull was succeeded by Colonel John Philip DeHaas, of Lebanon, who was commissioned two days later.
Colonel Bull served as one of the Commissioners at the important Indian treaty held at Easton, January 30, 1777; in February he was in command of the works at Billingsport.
The Supreme Executive Council created the Board of War, March 13, 1777, and named Colonel John Bull as one of the original members. They organized the following day.
On May 2, he was commissioned colonel of the State Regiment of Foot, which was organized with the residue of the battalions of Colonels Samuel Miles and Samuel J. Atlee, as a nucleus. June 2 this regiment was stationed at Fort Mercer, under command of Colonel Bull, its strength being four hundred and sixty-three.
As Colonel Bull was not an officer of either battalion, the other officers claimed his appointment ruined their rank, and as the regiment was put in the Continental service, June 10, 1777, the Supreme Executive Council appointed Colonel Bull adjutant general of the militia of Pennsylvania, and appointed Walter Stewart to the command of the regiment, which participated at Brandywine and Germantown.
He was also colonel of the Sixth Battalion of Associators, of Philadelphia, during 1777. During October of this year, Colonel Bull’s barns, barracks, grain and hay were burned by the British, and his wagons, horses, sheep and Negroes carried off, although General Howe had given his word to Mrs. Bull that they would not be disturbed.
In December, Brigadier General James Irvine was wounded and captured in the attempted surprise by the British at Whitemarsh, and Colonel Bull succeeded to the command of the Second Brigade Pennsylvania Militia, under command of General John Armstrong.
During Christmas week, 1777, the British crossed the Delaware and made a raid into New Jersey, another detachment at the same time crossed at Gray’s Ferry and took the road to Chester and Darby, with three hundred wagons. Howe and Erskine were with them; they made a demonstration towards Chester. Several pickets and detachments skirmished on their front and flank, under Captain Potterfield.
Colonel John Bull, with his brigade marched to force the foragers to retire by demonstrating against the enemy’s lines. His forces were distributed on the Frankford, Germantown and Ridge Roads, and caused the enemy to sound a general alarm. Bull planted his cannon, on Christmas Day, and fired several shots at the heart of the city, then withdrew to Frankford.
Marshall says: “Col. Bull, on the twenty-fifth instant, made an excursion into Fourth Street, Philadelphia, with two thousand militia, and alarmed the city by firing some pieces of cannon into the air, whereby some of the ball fell about Christ Church. He then made a good retreat back to his station, without the loss of a man.” The enemy, however, made no more raids.
In 1778 and 1779 he was engaged in erecting the defenses for Philadelphia; in 1779 he put down the chevaux de frize in the Delaware, and in 1780 he was Commissary of Purchases at Philadelphia, and appears to have been one of the busiest and most indefatigable of workers.
After the Revolution General Bull located at Northumberland, this was about 1785. In 1802 he was a candidate for the Legislature, but was defeated by Simon Snyder; in 1803, 1804 and 1805 he was elected to the Legislature, and three years later was defeated for Congress on the Federalist ticket.
General Bull died August 9, 1824, at the extreme age of ninety-four years. His wife, Mary Phillips Bull, died February 23, 1811, aged eighty years. The Northumberland Argus says “she was buried in the Quaker graveyard and General Bull, though much reduced by sickness and old age, previous to the grave being closed addressed the people as follows:
“'The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord; may we who are soon to follow be as well prepared as she was.'”
Truly a soldier to the very end of his eventful life.
Colonel Henry Bouquet established his rendezvous in Carlisle during the latter part of June, 1763, where he had assembled five hundred troops, selected from his British forces and several companies of Provincial Rangers. He was preparing to rush to the succor of Fort Pitt and other places which were being attacked by Indians under the inspiring leadership of Pontiac, the great chief of the Ottawa, who had formed a confederation of the Indians against the English.
Everywhere along the frontier of Pennsylvania was desolation, the settlers had fled in terror and the interior settlements were crowded with refugees. Especially is this true of Carlisle, where the brave Swiss, Colonel Bouquet, was receiving first hand intelligence of the sufferings and devastation caused by the savages.
On July 3, 1763, a courier from Fort Bedford rode into Carlisle, and as he stopped to water his horse, he was surrounded by an anxious crowd, to whom he told a sad tale of woe, and as he hurriedly mounted his horse to ride to Colonel Bouquet’s tent, he shouted, “The Indians will soon be here.”
Terror and excitement spread everywhere, messengers were dispatched in every direction to give the alarm, and the reports, harrowing as they had been, were confirmed by the fugitives who were met on every road and by-path hurrying to Carlisle for refuge.
A party armed themselves and went out to warn the living and bury the dead. They found death and destruction everywhere, and sickened with horror at seeing groups of hogs tearing and devouring the bodies of the dead.
After a delay of eighteen days, Bouquet secured enough wagons, horses and oxen, and began his perilous march towards Fort Pitt. His force was much smaller than General Braddock’s and he had to encounter a foe much more formidable. But Bouquet, the man of iron will and iron hand, had served seven years in American forests and, unlike the unfortunate Braddock, understood his work.
On July 25 Bouquet reached Fort Bedford, where he was fortunate in securing thirty backwoodsmen to accompany him. This little army toiled through the blazing heat of July over the Allegheny Mountains, and reached Fort Ligonier August 2.
The Indians who had besieged that fort for two months disappeared at the approach of the troops. Here Bouquet left his oxen and wagons and resumed his march two days later. At noon on the 5th he encountered the enemy at Bushy Run. A terrible battle raged for two days when the Indians were put to rout. The loss of the British was one hundred and fifteen men and eight officers. The little army was then twenty-five miles distant from Fort Pitt, which place was reached August 10.
The enemy had abandoned the siegesiege on this fort and marched their forces to unite with those engaged in combat with Colonel Bouquet at Bushy Run, so when they were compelled to retreat after that battle, they had not sufficient time, or lacked the courage to attack Fort Pitt with Colonel Bouquet in hot pursuit.
It was at this time that Colonel Bouquet built the little redoubt which is at the present all that remains of Fort Pitt, in fact is the only existing monument of British occupancy in the vicinity of Pittsburgh.
The Indians abandoned all their former settlements, and retreated to the Muskingum; here they formed new settlements, and in the spring of 1764 again began to ravage the frontier. To put an end to these depredations, General Gage planned a campaign into the western wilderness from two points. General Bradstreet was ordered to advance by way of the lakes, and Colonel Bouquet was to go forward from Fort Pitt.
After the usual delays and disappointments in securing troops from Pennsylvania and Virginia to aid in this expedition Colonel Bouquet again arrived at Fort Pitt, September 17, where he was detained until October 3. He led his troops from Fort Pitt following the north bank of the Ohio until he reached the Beaver, where he turned towards central Ohio.
Bouquet refused to listen to either threats or promises from the Indians, and declined to treat with them at all until they should deliver up their prisoners. Although not a single blow was struck the Indians were vanquished.
Bouquet continued his march down the valley of the MuskingumMuskingum until he reached a spot where some broad meadows offered a suitable place for encampment. Here he received a deputation of principal chiefs, listened to their offers of peace, and demanded the delivery of all the prisoners. Soon band after band of captives arrived, until more than three hundred were brought into the encampment.
The scenes which followed the restoration of these prisoners to their families and friends beggar all description; wives recovering their husbands, husbands their wives, parents regaining children whom they could scarcely recognize, brothers and sisters meeting after long separation and sometimes hardly able to converse in the same language.
The story is told of a woman whose daughter had been carried off nine years before. The mother recognized her child among the prisoners, but the girl, who had almost forgotten her mother tongue, showed no sign of recognition. The mother complained to Colonel Bouquet that the daughter she had so often sung to sleep on her knee had forgotten her. “Sing the song to her that you used to sing when she was a child,” said Colonel Bouquet. She did so, and with a passionate flood of tears the long lost daughter flung herself into her mother’s arms.
Everything being settled the army broke camp November 18, and arrived again at Fort Pitt on the 28th.
Early in January Colonel Bouquet returned to Philadelphia, receiving wherever he went every possible mark of gratitude and esteem from the people. The Assembly of Pennsylvania and the House of Burgesses of Virginia each unanimously voted him addresses of thanks, and on the arrival in England of the first account of this expedition the King promoted him to the rank of Brigadier General, to command the Southern District of North America.